By Rachel Loe, May 6, 2024

“Just keep swimming.” A quote by the ultimate philosopher, Dory, from Finding Nemo. How on earth does this relate to faith or work, let alone both? Well, if you are familiar with the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, you have a head start. This idea is founded in Matthew 24:13 (ESV) “he who perseveres to the end will be saved”. The text’s primary focus is salvific and points to the fact that it is God who works through us in our salvation as well as our sanctification afterward. We need only lean on Him, and “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). We can extrapolate this to our daily lives, however. The idea that God, the Father, and the Holy Ghost will continue to work in our lives and hearts until we reach heaven gives us the comfort that we are not toiling in vain on our own. 

To put it mildly, we will run into situations with work that will test our patience. Whether it is before we get the job and it seems though we send out hundreds of resumes, there is no light at the end of the tunnel, or we are immersed in a field so secular that it feels we are completely alone, we will come across situations that tax our faith and endurance. We live here and now, and our picture is just a portion of the whole. It is so easy for us to get distracted by the frustrations of day-to-day or week-to-week life that we take our eyes off Christ and give in to the frantic need to control what we cannot. There is a beautiful illustration of this in Matthew 14:28-33. The disciples are at sea, and a great storm comes upon them. They look out at the water and see their Lord, Jesus, walking on the water out to them. In a great heart of faith, Peter says, “Lord, if it is you, ask me to come to you and I will.”  Jesus tells him to come, and Peter steps out of the boat and onto the tumultuous water. He has his eyes on his Lord, not the chaos around him. “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me” (v.30). When Peter took his eyes off God and looked around at what he could not control or understand, he began to sink into fear. 

This life, at work, will present us with situations we cannot control or understand. Our job as children of God is to look to Him and just keep swimming (a pained metaphor, I am aware). Remember that when you are in the middle of a job hunt that will never end, or dealing with a boss who does not respect you, or any of the other many circumstances we face in this broken world, you are the child of the one who controls the waves on the sea and has counted the hairs on your head. And He has loved you.